GL.iNet GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX) Portable Travel Router, Pocket-Sized Wi-Fi 6 Wireless Travel Gigabit Router, with OpenVPN & Wireguard for Public & Hotel Wi-Fi Use, Suitable for Cruise/RV/Airplane/Hotel

With us being very concerned with public WiFi and the lack of security we usually avoid using any hot spots and I have configured our phones and laptops with a personal VPN when using those services. The downside is that the VPN clients on these devices will drain the battery and there is cost per device using that service.With the GL.iNet travel router with the bult in VPN service you only connect to the public WiFi and then launch the VPN on the router itself. Our phones and laptops connect to a secure local connection to the router, which then goes over the VPN which is encrypted over the public WiFi. This was easy to configure and worked well.I didn't have a chance to test at home since the router arrived the day of travel so I quickly did a VPN configuration (WireGuard) that I would enable at the location. Once I was at our destination I plugged in the router and also connected my laptop to the SSID and key using the ones printed on the side of the router. I then created new SSID and key that I would share with the family. The next step was to connect to the WiFi since there was no ethernet at our location and I was able to scan and connect with no issues. The last piece was to put in the WireGuard VPN configuration and activate the VPN which was really easy. The VPN activated on the first try and then tested with my laptop and was able to get to all my sites and services. I then shared the SSID and Key on the family devices and they were all able to connect as well. We had a total of 8 devices running against one connection over the VPN.There are lot more features in this router but for us it was about being secured in the public WiFi space. The router can become a NAS, can use Ethernet as the WAN connection, and also you can use a cell phone USB tethered if no other services are available.What I really liked: Price, compact, easy to setup, USB C powered, up to date softwareWhat I would suggest in improvements: For some reason even though the access point for WiFi was in our room the GL.iNet GL-MT3000 seemed to favor 2.4 GHz over 5 GHz. I clicked on the connection type and was able to force 5 GHz in the WAN settings. The router by default separates the 5 GHz from 2.4 GHz by using separate SSID's. I always preferred to combine both into one SSID and let my devices determine the best one to use. When I configured the local WiFi id did just that in the configuration of our new SSID.I would recommend anyone that travels with family and needs to share and secure their internet devices to take a hard look at using the GL.iNet GL-MT3000.

A must have I would say if you are traveling, even if you work from coffee shop.Pros from my point of view:1. WiFi 6 for a reasonable cost. What kind of internet bandwidth you connect to will matter, but if you connect to a decent bandwidth speeds, this will transmit good network speed.2. Powers from USB-A or USB-C from my Macbook Pro (I used both USB-A to USB-C and USB-C to USB-C cables). This router has USB-C to power it up.3. It can connect from Wired, Wirless (2.4 GHz or 5 GHz), Cell Modem and Tethering. I tried Wired and Wirelsess and it worked flawlessly.4. It can transmit in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and has Guest Network also. Just in case you need to share your network with somebody, you do not need to give your main network's password.5. It has both VPN Client (to route your traffic via VPN Service) and VPN Server (to access your network from remote location). I am using only VPN Client functionality. With SurfShark it works great.6. I set up VPN Client. When it is turned off and it turned back on, it boots up with VPN, which is great. It has got quite a few modes under VPN Client. The entire traffic goes via VPN, or you can choose based on the target locations, or Client Device. I am using for the entire traffic as I pretty much use this only when I am away from home.7. As this has OpenWRT, it has lot of plugins and Advanced features that you normally wont see in a router this size and price.8. This has got Dynamic DNS functionality, just in case you do not have static IP and wanted to use VPN Server functionality in this router. I am not using this feature.9. You can connect Hard Drive with USB-A to this router and it can work as a Network Storage.10. It has got lot of other features that I do not use. Ex: AdGuard, Good Cloud etc.11. I tested this with my power bank that I charge my phones with while traveling. And it works great!12. This comes with a power supply and adapters to them that work in US, Asia and UK. But I probably stick with using from my laptop's USB slot to power it.Cons:1. This is pretty much with any networking device. You need a decent networking knowledge to set the VPN.2. The VPN Client did not work right out of the box. I had to upgrade the firmware and also go into Advanced features to upgrade all the OpenWRT modules.Overall I am very satisfied with this product. I would surely recommend this to anybody.

I got this for a few reasons, and so far am happy with it.The primary reason I got this was for a router in my RV that I could connect a mini-PC to for running my astrophotography setup. This lets me setup the system and the mini-PC automatically gets a fixed IP so I can remote desktop into it from inside the trailer on my laptop. This worked great in my testing this past week. Easy to setup, good signal, and does everything I want.The second reason I got this is as a temporary backup router for home. With the ability to tether through my phone it would be an option to provide Internet access if my cable modem goes down for any reason. That doesn't happen very often, but it is nice to have the backup. While I haven't had to use it, I have tested it out and everything worked great.Along those lines, sometimes when we are camping better cellular coverage is available outside of the RV. I can set this out with a battery pack and my phone, providing better signal to my laptop.Lastly, I'll likely start traveling more for work, so this will go along with me. I've configured this with both ZeroTier to connect to my home network, and also with a VPN provider, and it works great. I have the switch on the side configured to enable/disable connection to my VPN provider, so everything on the router goes through VPN. This will be great when I am in a hotel on travel. Not only will this keep my laptop and phone off the hotel network directly, it will also secure all of my connections with VPN, offering another layer of protection. While I've tested this functionality at home, I haven't yet been able to put it to use.